The stock gear is pretty tough when the final weight is at the factory specs, which is about 35 ounces or so. We are 10 ounces (46 total) over that and the gear is able to handle only minor rough landings. At your 55 ounces, well, even normal landings pose risks for the stock gear, just not designed to carry that weight. That said, the plane itself can carry the extra weight and probably even more. Landing speeds go up as the weight does, so the loads follow suit. Good thing is, lots of LG out there to choose from.

I checked out the link for the landing gear and am all for buying them when they come in stock... but... what exactly is the problem that these gear fix? I guess I should have asked that earlier. Does the base of the retract break upon landing? Looking over my gear, it seems the area by the hinge pin might be a little weak. Is that the problem?

Thanks,

J

Its the weight of the bird...I had a perfect landing and the gear held up fine but I ran off into the grass and ALL 3 gear broke off at the base..The landing gear I suggested is for the f-35 and su-34.. I used the su-34 gear off my bird ,that bird weighed 65 oz..and had many rough and bounce landings..
My bird now weighs 55 oz...thats weigh over the 32 oz. stock... as Joe said there are many choices out there...I was going to try and use my motor retracts I used on my cesna 310 but they wiere too big to fit...the fit is the problem ,, length-width-height and it happens that the ones I suggested are almost perfect...they are a little wider but all you do is open the opening a little with a dremil .. a tool must for mods.
If you land like I do sometimes nothing will hold up
And on this bird,because of the weight, she comes in very hot, thats why I am putting on a parachute

I am having trouble stearing this bird...it is so lite on the front end that when it gets up to speed it bounces the front and makes stearing almost impossible.I might just have some linkage or servo problems cause the first 2 flights steared straight...am working on this...
I also push down elevator to get the nose more traction ..I put the parachute on a switch that deploys and also gives full down on the elevator..
Are others having this problem??
On my last flight I landed and went off into the grass again but the gear held up just fine...

I'm not sure if there is a technical reason preventing this (if there is, I assume it would be due to the high RPMs of a ducted fan motor), but it would be cool if you could use two car ESCs w/ reverse enabled to provide thrust reversing at the low end of the throttle stick's travel. Of course the fans aren't aerodynamically optimized to run backwards, but they would provide some reverse thrust and braking force. Would be pretty neat to hit the runway hot, then kick in the 'reversers'.

Anyway, just a quick survey question... How are you guys mounting your wing servos? Hot glue? Tape? CA? Epoxy? All of the above? So far I am leaning towards wrapping the servo in masking tape then using CA.

I'm not sure if there is a technical reason preventing this (if there is, I assume it would be due to the high RPMs of a ducted fan motor), but it would be cool if you could use two car ESCs w/ reverse enabled to provide thrust reversing at the low end of the throttle stick's travel. Of course the fans aren't aerodynamically optimized to run backwards, but they would provide some reverse thrust and braking force. Would be pretty neat to hit the runway hot, then kick in the 'reversers'.

Anyway, just a quick survey question... How are you guys mounting your wing servos? Hot glue? Tape? CA? Epoxy? All of the above? So far I am leaning towards wrapping the servo in masking tape then using CA.

Thanks,

J

Interesting idea on the fans.....never thought of that..anyone else have any ideas on that???

In order to do that you would need a different type of transmitter. the throttle stick would have to start at center position being "0". Also would need car ESCs that can accept a signal to go in reverse.

Seems like a good choice...did you do the slow shipping or the 4 day one??
I did not even think about hobby king...I am going to bookmark that...and with the 3mm shaft hole all you have to do is just transfer them over to the new set...and 2 sets WOW.. I am real curious on how they look..all metal??
Keep us informed..
The only other suggestion is to pull on the wood strips that hold them in...mine were not very well attached on the nose gear...with the length on the front gear it takes a lot of side stress in turns when you are doing those fast landings....ask me how I know I put mine back in with expoxy...

Just got back from 3 more successful flights! The afterburners look FANTASTIC! Especially as it got darker tonight! The updated tires on the retracts worked perfect, the landing lights and rotating beacons really added to the scale look! Flight speeds were 78 - 81 - 84 MPH! SO EXCITED TO HAVE HER UP AGAIN!!!

I've said it several times before and I will always say it again...There is NOTHING that looks as cool as the SR-71 Blackbird at the flying field! Now when you add Joe's awesome afterburner kit?! Nothing beats it!

http://www.rc-lights.com/
I found this place when looking for nav lites for the sr..
This place looks amazing and good prices too...I ordered just the 3 piece set,5300-- red and green and one strobe lite..
The selections and combo are amazing...
Just thought it was a good site and another option...Horizon hobby sells them too a little cheaper but the home site explains things better...
I am hopeing that this will also help in my orientation issues....
Think I got the parachute working, will try and get vid later..still working on my loose stearing....

Just got back from 3 more successful flights! The afterburners look FANTASTIC! Especially as it got darker tonight! The updated tires on the retracts worked perfect, the landing lights and rotating beacons really added to the scale look! Flight speeds were 78 - 81 - 84 MPH! SO EXCITED TO HAVE HER UP AGAIN!!!

You da man! Congrats. Sounds like it's still thrills galore with this bird.

http://www.rc-lights.com/
I found this place when looking for nav lites for the sr..
This place looks amazing and good prices too...I ordered just the 3 piece set,5300-- red and green and one strobe lite..
The selections and combo are amazing...
Just thought it was a good site and another option...Horizon hobby sells them too a little cheaper but the home site explains things better...

Think I got the parachute working, will try and get vid later..still working on my loose stearing....

Just a taste of how this SHOULD work...I added the down elevators to help keep the nose down...The door is just one piece with a servo ejecting the door..its held on with maganets and will just seperate from the plane... Its hard to see the door in the angle I took...just cut the foam back about
Will try and get it in action soon.

Just love to tinker...
Just hope I don't hit the wrong switch while its flying